And now, for something completely different. Tom’s talked about PR, Brad’s talked about Social Media, Robert’s talked about Privacy and Dups, well, Dups just talks about anything 🙂 But now, it’s my turn as the Web Design guy for Empire Avenue to talk about our design!

Our users have spoken and we’ve listened! We just launched a spiffy new design (code name: Skylark), implemented a ton of feature enhancements and re-worked the site layout based on our beta users feedback. Skylark came about after watching a Mad Men marathon and keeping in mind the goal of improving the overall user experience… Oh, and bringing the “dead-sexy” value up to an acceptable level. Some of the changes were small improvements to existing elements and others were complete re-imaginings of what the site should be. With the old design we found that not every element was as useful as we had hoped it would be, and at times the interface was cluttered and difficult to use. I have to give a huge thanks to our beta testers who have provided us with an immense amount of feedback on the interface, which has allowed us to incorporate new features and changes based on their feedback.

The most notable changes were the improvements to site navigation. This included the addition of tabs for the site navigation, providing an obvious way to navigate all Empire Avenue pages. A significant amount of time was spent re-working the interface, focusing on site layout, trying to make it easier to discover, research and interact with influencers. We’ve added a lot more graphs, which are easier to read, because lets face it… everyone likes pretty pictures, especially when it shows your value increasing.

A new feature we added and have started to integrate throughout the site is User Advertising. Now you can take your hard-earned credits and grow your Empire by buying ads that will be placed on pages throughout Empire Avenue!

The other biggest change and one of my favorites was the improvement to the home page interface. In the old design, the information flow was very choppy and not so useful to investors. So we threw in a stick of dynamite, blew it up and started over… the endi result is more of a dashboard where we are funneling in Influencer, Portfolio and network activity. You can quickly find the recent activity of your Portfolio, you can view your detailed history, stalk new Influencers and much more. Our goal was to turn the main home page into a place where your investments shine through and your Profile page as a place where your Influence is highlighted!

What’s Next?

Skylark was well received by our beta users, and over the next few months we’re planning on enhancing this design and introducing some nifty features. Eventually we’ll open the gates to the masses; until then you’ll have to wait or you might be able to find a beta invite and get in on all the fun.

Want a beta invite? Go to the main page and request one! It’s still not too late!